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Why do Manchester City keep conceding late goals?
It is a question that has been put to Pep Guardiola a few times this season because of the return of their worrying habit of conceding multiple goals in a short space of time. Against Brighton, Feyenoord, United and now Brentford, the Blues have thrown away winning positions by not being able to last for the full 95 minutes of a match.
In the early years under the manager, losing one goal could trigger panic in the team that would often see another scored before the players could recover their focus. That was seen as a mental block rather than anything fitness related or tactical, and was eradicated over time to enable City to win the Champions League as well as four consecutive Premier League titles.
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Guardiola has been reluctant to publicly consider a mental aspect for the late collapses of his players despite several members of the squad talking about it, instead focusing on the injury crisis. Players such as Rodri or Ruben Dias would have added welcome defensive expertise to see out the game at Brentford on Tuesday, and the absence of so many key players has meant that those who are on the pitch are more knackered than they should be.
With most players having had at least one week without a game and some two, the latter point wasn’t as strong at Brentford. You could still point to absent players that left City without the specialists they needed to defend a lead – but, as the manager pointed out, they could have seen out the game differently.
“We didn’t manage well at 2-0, but at 2-1 we managed well,” he said. “But sometimes it happens. [James] McAtee shoots, imagine he makes an extra pass, maybe they finish the game there but he has to shoot to score the third.
“Savinho had an action to pass to Erling [Haaland] one against one. What I missed today was that we didn’t take the right decisions in the final third in the actions when we could run. Matheus [Nunes] in the first half, Erling and Savinho, Phil again.”
You could put it down to an off day, or the injured absentees, and maybe it is either or both. At the same time, the fact there have been four collapses to drop points in the last 14 matches means everything has to be considered.
There were certainly grumbles about the substitutions at Brentford. While Guardiola wanted better decision making from those on the pitch, many fans thought that somebody like Jack Grealish would have been better to bring on to give City control rather than Ilkay Gundogan.
Gundogan left the pitch at Brighton with City 1-0 up though, with Bernardo Silva and Kevin De Bruyne coming on for him and Savinho before they lost 2-1. Against United, Grealish was one of two brought on to preserve City’s lead and played a part in gifting United a way back into the game.
Then there was Feyenoord, where a triple substitution with 15 minutes to go brought three goals for the Dutch side in what probably stands as the world result of the season. Guardiola said he saw ‘no danger’ in the game when he made the changes and the players have to take responsibility, although maybe what the manager should have seen was the flimsy state of his team that would be more unsettled by a change in rhythm than anyone expected.
It is something else for the manager to think about as he tries to find a way out for his team because the facts speak for themselves. Wolves and Aston Villa are the only Premier League teams to concede more than the nine goals City have in the final 15 minutes of games, so even if there does not appear to be any one strong factor it is a problem.
Guardiola has to do whatever he can to ensure his side manage games better, and if those on the pitch need to look at themselves the manager has to make sure he has the best possible players out there to get the job done.